Intermediate WordPress

July 25th to July 26th 2013

Seminar

Internet

A Wired reader wrote…

This intermediate course takes your WordPress site to the next level. Mike’s hands-on session will teach you WordPress best practice, SEO strategies, security tips and caching techniques. You’ll get started with e-commerce and find out about little-known and useful features of WordPress - and all from the man who helped create it in the first place.

Who will benefit from this class?

You may already have a WordPress site or two but you want yours to be better than the rest.

You may be contemplating spending several thousand pounds on hiring a developer/ designer for your new company website.

Total beginners should go on our WordPress for Beginners course.

What you need to be familiar with

If you want to work on an existing WordPress site you are more than welcome, but we will provide a pre-installed site for up to a month for all attendees.

This course is aimed at those who’ve already got to grips with the WordPress CMS. You’ll don’t need any programming experience, but a little CSS knowledge is useful.

Course syllabus

Day one

-Introduction To WordPress: What is WordPress? A little history-Recap of the WordPress basics: Posts, pages and all that jazz-Settings in depth: More ways to configure your site-Advanced posts and pages: Featured images, the kitchen sink, paging and more-Exercise: Getting to grips with the WordPress Editor-The Image Editor: Make your own thumbnails-Themes, Widgets and Menus in depth: Learning the building blocks-CSS introduction: An overview and some useful tools-Pulling it all together: Improving the look of your site-Exercise: Customising your theme with CSS

Day two

-Security: Hosting, plugins and good habits-Caching: Make your site fly!-Exercise: Security and caching plugins-SEO - an overview: The strange art of Search Engine Optimisation-Anti-spam techniques: Akismet and beyond-Jetpack in depth: Juicy goodness form WordPress.com-Exercise: Getting to know Jetpack-E-commerce - an overview: An intro to selling your stuff-More useful tools and plugins

Equipment you’ll need:

Please bring a laptop computer with Windows, Linux or Mac OS installed. You will not need to install any software, but you should have a modern web browser. Our preference is for the latest version of Firefox or Google Chrome, but the latest Internet Explorer or Opera will be fine too.

For part of the course you will need Firefox or Google ChromeYou may want to bring some sample images that you will be able to upload to your website as the course progresses.

If you feel more comfortable using an external mouse, please bring one with you.

Learning outcomes:

After completing the class, you will have:-In-depth knowledge about WordPress configuration-A suite of plugins to enhance your site to your needs-The ability to configure WordPress to your preferences-The ability to use industry-standard developer tools-An understanding of site security and Search Engine Optimisation-Practical knowledge of advanced plugins-This is a very practical hands-on course where you will complete exercises, ask questions and engage in discussions to make the most of the time.

Costs and times:

-The course costs £200. You will receive an electronic copy of the teaching materials, software, and programmes. You will also receive one month's free hosting courtesy of MadLab to test and refine your site. Lunch and refreshments are provided.

About the course tutor

Mike Little is the co-founder of WordPress, and founder and CEO of zed1.com ltd, a WordPress specialist web development consultancy. He has developed many web sites for his clients (WordPress-based, of course) including a number of prominent UK government websites. His background is in software development and he has more than 25 years' under his belt, many at the most senior levels. He is a member of Mensa, a published author, technical editor, and a member of the Usability Professionals Association.